SS Normannia (1911)

History
Name	TSS Normannia
Operator	1911–1948: London and South Western Railway 1923–1940: Southern Railway
Port of registry
Builder	Fairfield, Govan
Yard number	481
Launched	9 November 1911
Fate	Bombed and sunk 30 May 1940
General characteristics
Tonnage	1,567 gross register tons (GRT)
Length	290.3 feet (88.5 m)
Beam	36.1 feet (11.0 m)
Draught	15.3 feet (4.7 m)

TSS Normannia was a passenger vessel built for the London and South Western Railway in 1911.^[1]

History

The ship was built by the Fairfield Govan and launched on 9 November 1911. With her sister ship Hantonia they were put on the service between Southampton and Le Havre. They were the first cross-channel steamers to be fitted with single-reduction geared Parsons turbines, which gave the vessels a speed of over 20 knots but also cut down on the vibration experienced by cross-Channel passengers.^[2]

She was requisitioned by the Admiralty in 1914 and operated as a troopship during the First World War, she also brought home Elsie Cameron Corbett^[3] and others freed from captivity.

She was acquired by the Southern Railway in 1923.

On 30 May 1940 she was bombed and severely damaged during Operation Dynamo in the North Sea 4 nautical miles (7.4 km) off Dunkerque by Heinkel aircraft of the Luftwaffe. She was beached and abandoned.^[4]

References

1. Duckworth, Christian Leslie Dyce; Langmuir, Graham Easton (1968). Railway and other Steamers. Prescot, Lancashire: T. Stephenson and Sons.
2. "Cross Channel Travel". Folkestone, Hythe, Sandgate & Cheriton Herald. England. 20 July 1912. Retrieved 17 November 2015 – via British Newspaper Archive.
3. "A Profile of Archibald Cameron Corbett - Family Man". The Archibald Corbett Society. Retrieved 21 October 2021.
4. "SS Normannia (+1940)". Wrecksite. Retrieved 11 November 2011.